


What We Hold Dear - A Dragon Prince Short

by sorensbutter



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Hospitals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:21:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22610938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorensbutter/pseuds/sorensbutter
Summary: Rayla has an important event she is having to go to, but she is terrified of the outcomes with this new trial. Will she be able to feel safe and supported by everyone? You will just have to see!
Kudos: 13





	What We Hold Dear - A Dragon Prince Short

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i wrote this for the rxyllum's fanfiction war and i enjoyed writing this fanfiction! i hope you guys like it!

Life has always been hard for everyone, no matter what would intertwine in the paths of those who were innocent. The world always tried to divide others and make them feel weak. So many would say to keep what hold of what was dear to others close. To always remember the good times, even in bad situations.

Rayla never could understand that saying. It wasn’t like everyone was lucky to have this opinion.

She only could let the world slowly pass by. Young Rayla knew that fate had a plan for her - the problem was that she didn’t know exactly what it was. Her heart yearned for more than what she had now...

Well, again, she couldn’t do that much either with that as well.

“Come on, Ethari! You know I don’t need to go through this...”Rayla sighed. Her hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket, she walked with her two fathers through the sliding doors of the hospital. Her hood was over her head as she walked forward.

Ethari only sighed at his daughter’s resentment. “Rayla, you must understand that this for you to not just improve…but to also gain friends!”he says sweetly as he gave her a soft smile.

“Yeah, but still I don’t like doing this!” Rayla groans, pushing her hood further down over her eyes. Her hands had squeezed the hood silently as they continued to walk.

A hand suddenly placed itself onto Rayla’s shoulder and pulled her back, jerking Rayla back and hitting Runaan with her back. Rayla quickly pulled her hood down and saw the hand belonged to Runaan as he held her close to him. Even with a harsh grip, it was still fatherly.

“Rayla…watch where you are going…”he sighs and points his finger forward. Some nurses were pushing an older man in a wheelchair past them as they were talking to one another. It was like normal daily life to them - to come to work at the hospital and help the sick regain health as fast as they could.

Rayla sighed and nodded slowly at the older elf. “I know, Dad! Sorry…”she groans to herself and rolled her eyes towards the side. Some worry entered her face as she felt somewhat nervous about stepping out of her boundaries. This was something completely new to her, something that even her dads haven’t faced yet.

However, Runnan sighed at his daughter’s behavior. Slowly, he placed his hand onto her head, letting his fingers run through her hair.

“Rayla...I know this is hard...believe me...your dad and I are terrified of what is to come, but if it means you get better and meet others...we will let you do this! You are a strong elf, Rayla...the strongest I’ve ever seen! For you to choose this for yourself shows how you have grown into a true hero...” Runaan says with a soft voice. His eyes however filled with a couple of tears, slowly running down his cheeks as he looked into his daughter’s eyes. 

Rayla looked up at Runnan and smiled weakly. She loved whenever he would say stuff like that. 

“Dad! You don’t have to say that, you are strong too!”she chuckled, tears threatening to fall as well.

Runnan chuckled weakly from within his throat.

“I know...but you know how I am about you...!”he jokes, giving her a soft smile in the process.

Ethari smiles weakly as he watched from the side, feeling saddened by this event. As a parent, he was devastated with this being the last opinion for Rayla to have.

“Why don’t we head up there…?”Ethari asks as he held his arm out towards the elevator. His eyes softening when looking at his little one and his husband.

Rayla turns toward Ethari and gulps a little bit. Fear entered her head with her eyes widening a little. “Y-yeah…!”she says, imitating a strong voice.

Runaan slowly walked towards Ethari with Rayla and smiled towards him. Slowly, Runaan leaned his hand forward and pressed the button to call the elevator. He continued to smile towards the two, but his eyes advertising towards Rayla with some concern in his glances.

He hoped that everything would go out just perfectly.

Sighing, Ralya pulled her hood over her eyes again and calmed down a little bit. ‘It’s okay, Rayla! You got this under control! Nothing bad is going to happen!’ she thought in her head.

Soon enough, a dinging sound alerted the three elves quickly. The elevator opens up slowly, revealing a small but open space in the elevator. Cold air was exiting from within the elevator to the main floor and it had soft music playing from the old, small speakers that were mounted to the sides from within the elevator.

With a deep breath of confidence, Rayla slowly steps into the elevator as she held her head up. Ethari and Runnan entered after her and stood on both sides of the young elferen girl. Ethari smiles, leaning his finger forward and pressing the third floor button quickly. The elevator took a second to alert the three with a bing, slowly closing its door. Immediately, the elevator began to be pulled up from the main floor. The three waited patiently in the elevator, nothing filling the air but the sounds of the soft, radiant music playing from in the elevator.

Silently, Rayla watched the electronic sign slowly show that they were moving up floors. The anticipation was killing her. Different scenes played quickly through Rayla’s head, stressing over how she would meet others just like in her situation. Rayla was often an elf who wasn’t shy and was headstrong, but this was a completely different situation.

However, Rayla’s thoughts would be interrupted as she focused up to see that they were finally there. The number three illuminated from the screen with the door opening to a large open space. Ralya continued to rub her fingers against the helms of the hood and sighs to herself.

“You ready, Rayla?” Ethari asked, a smile illuminating from his face. Runaan softly placed his hand onto his husband’s back, looking down at their daughter.

Rayla sighed and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath as she looked at the both of them.

“Ready as I’ll ever be!”she exclaimed softly. There was a little sarcasm in her voice due to the fact that she was somewhat terrified of what was to come.

The three slowly took a step out of the elevator and Rayla gulps somewhat to herself. This was finally it, the biggest step into her life so far.

Ethari and Runaan walked with Rayla slowly forward as they walked over to the main desk in the middle of the large space area.

“Honey, why don’t you go wait near the waiting area while we take care of the paperwork?” Runaan says softly, looking at her with a hint of sadness in his gaze. This wasn’t going to be easy for any of them.

Rayla nodded as she sighed, “Okay..” Slowly, Ralya walked forward towards the waiting room, hearing her shoes tap against the floor as she walked. Her violet eyes averted towards the different hospital rooms as she passed by. It was sad to see how these children were sick and stuck at the hospital. The hallway was filled with silence, Rayla hearing nothing but machines on and her feet tapping against the stone floor as she walked.

She wandered a bit more until finding a sign reading, ‘Teens Room’. She sighed, softly tucking a strand of her white hair behind her ear, feeling nervous about this entire circumstance. The arrow to the name pointed downward, over a door some light illuminating from the window and under the door.

Walking towards the door slowly, Rayla pushed her hand outwards towards the knob and looked down at her feet. This was her moment at long last. Meeting new friends and getting to experience something different. What could go wrong?

With no thought, Rayla threw open the door and flinches a little. However, what she would find was...different.

“AH, COME ON! THIS IS NOT FAIR!”a voice boomed as suddenly there was a loud thud coming from the room. A young adult quickly narrowed his blue eyes in frustration at two other people in the room, mostly glaring at the girl.

Rayla flinched again. Her face held confusion, she didn’t expect to walk in to this at all.

The girl laughed softly, snorting between her breaths as she had a large smile plastered onto her face. She placed her hand on her mouth, knowing this was amazing of what just happened.

“Oh come on, Soren! Uno isn’t that bad!”the younger boy chuckled as he was laughing a little bit as well. Both of the other two didn’t expect Soren to get angry towards Uno of all games. Claudia chose this game so it was most likely she wanted to do that to get attention.

“It isn’t fair! I want a rematch!” The blonde guy, known as Soren, begs as he really wanted to be reconsidered for the next match.

The girl hummed and tapped her chin, saying, “Umm, yeah, you can have a match...you just have to write a great haiku and I will consider it!”

However, the boy sighs in relief with a smile. “Oh okay, I will just use one of my old ones! That will totally work!”he says proudly to her.

The girl only groans and patted the boy Soren on the head. The other boy however then looked towards the door and quickly smiled as he saw Rayla. “Hey, you must be Rayla!”he says happily with a bright smile on his face. He stood up quickly and waved her over. However, he quickly chuckled and said, “Oops, I almost forgot about this!” He quickly pulled up a nasal cannula that had been resting around his neck and connected the nasal tubes into his nose. Slowly, he got out of his chair and picked up a small oxygen tank that was on the other side of his chair. The young guy quickly fixed his t-shirt with a picture of an anime on it and jeans as he stood in front of Rayla.

Rayla’s eyes widened a bit as she saw this. He looked like such a healthy young boy near her age and he was using an oxygen tank to help him breath.

The other two turned and looked at Rayla. Soren smiles and waved at her. “Hey! You are the new girl, right?”he asked and smiled brightly towards Rayla.

Rayla raised her eyebrow at this as she fluttered her eyelashes, still trying to process everything that was going on. “Y-yeah, I am new here to the Xadia Hospital…”she says as she took a few steps forward. Her hand slowly let the door close by itself as she looked at the three individuals in front of her.

“Ah! Well, the name’s Soren! The guy that just talked to ya is named Callum!”he says with a chuckle. Slowly, he reached down towards something and pulled his arm forward a little but it jerked to a stop. Soren’s arms quickly went to both sides of the chair and he pushed himself forward. His wheelchair squeaks forward as he rolled beside Callum with a smile. Soren, when arriving in front of Rayla and beside Callum, stopped before he pasted Callum. He was in some jeans and a flannel that was buttoned up until the last three buttons upward

Rayla looked at the two males in front of her as she was shocked to see that they appeared to be in the hospital. Again, the two males looked perfectly healthy.

“And my name is Claudia! Sorry about the late introductions, Soren and Callum were too busy playing UNO and I always won so...!” Claudia chuckled sweetly. She got up from the table and pushed her hair behind her ear.

Rayla looked at the three, chuckling at them with the sly smile in the world. “Oh, really? Do you know about me? How come-!”she asked and chuckled.

“Well, it’s because you have that heart disease!”he says, not seeing the glare that Callum and Claudia quickly gave to him. Claudia growled as she said, “Soren!”

Callum quickly chuckled nervously, placing himself in front of Rayla. “We understand where you are coming from though, I have lung problems so that is why I am required to have a little more oxygen on at all times than usual,” he explains to her with a sweet smile.

Claudia smiles at her older brother and Callum. “Soren has nerve problems in his spinal cord, so we often come here to see new medication to treat his nerves!”she explains and gives Rayla a soft smile.

Rayla nodded, smiling somewhat at this. “Well, I am not going to lie about myself...I just have a heart disease that just needs to be checked on regularly. My parents had heart problems before they died so my dads decided to always have a check up for me at the end of the month. I personally don’t like it since it means I am alone...but now they have surgery that will help my heart, so that is why I am here!”she chuckled weakly and looked at the three teenagers.

Callum nodded and looked at Rayla with a soft smile. “Oh no, we completely understand...say, you want to join us in our game?”he asked with a sweet smile.

“Y-yeah! I would!”she says and chuckled. A smile eliminated on her face, it’s been a while since she smiled that widely. 

The four quickly went back over the table as Rayla was smiling happily towards herself. She hoped that she would hold onto these memories of whatever would come her way in the future. These memories would be so dear to her and to finally have support from others in her situation made her feel at peace.


End file.
